Why should you buy this book ?

Can You See Me ? presents a collection of previously unseen Jimi Hendrix images by renowned portrait photographer Donald Silverstein (1934-75) taken in London in 1967.

Donald Silverstein’s sole session with Jimi Hendrix produced one of the most important and well known photographs of the incendiary guitarist. Jimi stands, looking into camera, his jacket off, his shirt open, revealing a well defined torso. This powerful image originally appeared on a poster issued by Track Records, and has been heavily bootlegged subsequently. Hendrix fans who have seen that original poster will know that the contrast was notched up to 11 by the designer, and as a result it was very difficult to pick out detail. Seeing the photograph as Donald Silverstein took it, with intricate details revealed by the fine grain of the Kodak Verichrome Pan film that he loaded into his Hasselblad for the shoot, is a complete revelation.

Earlier in the session Donald had photographed Jimi Hendrix flanked by Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, for a series of group portraits, one of which would be chosen for the inner gatefold sleeve of the 1 December 1967 UK release of The Experience’s second LP, Axis: Bold as Love, but for the most part, the session was about Jimi.

Incredibly, almost nothing from this incredible shoot has been published, and so Can You See Me ? unlocks the amazing treasure-trove of previously unseen images contained within the Silverstein family’s archive.

Can You See Me ? includes approximately 100 photographs throughout its 96 pages, and contains the very best of Donald Silverstein’s surviving archive of Jimi Hendrix photographs, with the vast majority of photographs previously unpublished.

Can You See Me ? defies the normal ‘coffee table’ convention. Much larger than a traditional coffee table volume, it is slim and elegant at the same time. Can You See Me ? is housed in a beautiful custom slipcase which reproduces the front and back book cover art. All our publications seek to redefine the book as more than just a book – and as a piece of art in its own right. With this in mind, the cover of the book and slipcase have been deliberately left free of text so that nothing detracts from the power of the images.

Producing Can You See Me ?

Some things just have to be – and this book is one of them.

When I met Lisa Silverstein for coffee in London in early 2014, I knew about the classic image of Jimi Hendrix that had appeared on posters in the late 1960s, and that had been taken by her father Donald. I was not prepared for what was to come however. I remember vividly how Lisa opened a large envelope in front of me, and proceeded to pulled out page after page of contact sheets from that same 1967 session. Even though I was looking at tiny images on the contact sheets, each one a mere 2¼ inch square, I could see immediately that these were very high quality photographs.

The more time I spent with the images, enlarging, cataloguing and analysing them, comparing the angles, details, textures and facial expressions, the more I came to the conclusion that this was one of the most important Jimi Hendrix studio portraits sessions, period. Here was a photographer operating at the peak of his powers, using self evident technical skills, coupled with that bit of magic, possessed by some photographers, that transforms a routine shoot into something on a higher level.

I knew I had to help give this important collection the prominence it deserved. This book is very much a part of that process, and follows on from the world’s first gallery exhibition of photographs from the session which we hosted in the Summer of 2014 at our gallery in St James’s, in central London.

Should a book really be devoted to a single session taken on one day, with one subject ? When the subject is Jimi Hendrix, and the photographer is Donald Silverstein, then the answer to that question is to my mind absolutely, categorically, yes. This is the reason we established our publishing arm, Ormond Yard Press, in the first place: to be able to share incredible images such as these with like-minded photography and music aficionados and collectors, in a beautiful large format limited edition volume.

I hope we can tempt you.

Guy White, publisher, Ormond Yard Press.

Donald Silverstein

Donald Silverstein (1934-75).

New York-born Donald Silverstein (1934-75) started photographing early in life. Given a Rolleiflex camera by his mother at the age of 12, by 19 has was photographing for Glamour Magazine in the US and at 20 has was sent to London on a one year contract for English Vogue by renowned Art Director Alexander Lieberman.

He loved Europe and ended up staying for four years: two in England, and then two years working for French Vogue in Paris. During that period he developed a close friendship with French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin. Donald returned to the US and worked in New York for three years. His strong sense of style comes across clearly in the record sleeve portraits he took during this period for Riverside records, and which won him many awards.

He missed Europe, however, and decided to return, with his family, with London acting as a central base. Donald opened a studio on Riding House Street, just around the corner from Carnaby Street. He shot for fashion publications, newspapers, major advertising agencies. He kept esteemed company.  A 1964 Daily Mirror article on Britain’s top photographers shows him alongside Bailey, Donovan and Duffy.

He was an award-winning photographer, collecting over 50 professional awards in the course of his career. A medal in the 1968 Design and Art Directors awards for his photograph of a little boy with a bandaged eye (used in adverts for preventing accidents from fireworks), was followed by four medals in 1969 including an award (with Alan Aldridge) for the iconic 1968 poster image used for the London screening of Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls movie, which featured his photograph of a provocatively posed young model, now artist, Clare Shenstone.

He loved music and was thrilled to receive the Jimi Hendrix commission in 1967, creating what has become his most well known image, and one of the most important images of Jimi Hendrix. Donald led a vibrant life, but died too young, in 1975.